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Palma.—The New Year shop sales got underway in Palma yesterday with a report saying that on average shoppers would spend 75 euros on discounted items. This represents a drop of almost 35 percent on the same period last year.

The Balearic government has changed the law so that shops were able to start the sales period earlier in an effort to cash-in on the spending spree ahead of the arrival of the Three Kings.

Some shops slashed their prices by almost 50 percent in an effort to attract the small number of shoppers in Palma yesterday.
The people of Madrid will be spending the most during the sales period with almost 95 euros being earmarked for discounted items, 20 euros more than their Majorcan counterparts.

Smaller retailers hope that the sales will mark a change in their fortunes after a poor run-up to Christmas which saw takings fall quite dramatically. They say that they are unable to compete against the big department stores.

Some shops started their sales justafter Christmas with discounts of up to 30 percent being offered in shops with even bigger discounts on offer now that the sales period has actually started.